The Best Part
by sbarmarj
Summary: To entertain himself during a boring shift Sulu teases Chekov about his unsuccessful attempts at love, but the teasing backfires on Sulu in an unexpected way. Sulu/Chekov if you squint, oneshot.


"Stop thinking about her," as he spoke Sulu looked at his young friend seated at the console next to him. They were half way through a bridge shift that was so routine it was mind numbingly boring. Since he became the official helmsman for the Enterprise six months ago, Sulu had learned that Chekov could devote himself so completely to solving some heinous equation that he wouldn't hear a direct command, but if his mind wasn't challenged his attention wandered away from his duties. Sulu handled the normal boredom of routine shifts slightly differently. He knew he should really work on his neglected duty logs, but it was too easy to tease Chekov and it was far more entertaining than any amount of paperwork.

"I wasn't thinking about her." Chekov didn't quite spit the statement out, but his voice was laced with as much annoyance as he allowed himself to express when on duty.

Sulu arched a single eyebrow. Not that he would ever admit it but Sulu was completely impressed with Spock's ability to insult, condescend, and generally deflate any valid argument with a well placed eyebrow arch. In fact he was so impressed, Sulu had taken to emulating the habit. It was well worth the month of practice in front of the mirror while he was brushing his teeth. He still lacked the commander's ironic aplomb, but he felt that his variation on the expression had a level of bad-ass lacking from the original. In fact he was thinking about starting out his next fencing match by shaking his opponent's hand and arching his eyebrow.

"Yes, you were. For the last time, get over her."

While not unfamiliar with a broken heart or unrequited love, Sulu did not indulge either. He tended to treat both with the same direct attack that had made him the Academy judo champion and an internationally ranked fencer. His favorite plan of action had three stages. First, acknowledge the heartbreak. Listing the many virtues that had initially attracted him and the sadness at losing a chance at something that might have become love usually worked. This was followed closely by the second stage, which he personally called bitterness. He acknowledged all of the traits and habits that he had disliked, detested, and the disillusionment upon discovering that his crush was none of the things that he desired. The third and final stage was to get back on the horse. Sulu had discovered through careful research and time spent with the Captain that it was possible, with the aid of substantial amounts of liquor, to complete all three stages in an single evening. In Kirk's case it was entirely possible to fall both in and out of love in one visit to a bar. Sulu wasn't in quite that class, but he also didn't languish in heartbreak like Chekov.

"We have served however many bridge shifts together-"

"A hundred and twenty-three shifts. It would be a hundred and twenty-seven but you missed three shifts due to Andorian Shingles and one after betting Mister Scott that you were capable of drinking him under the table. You were not the victor."

Except it sounded like 'you vere not the wictor'. Sulu wasn't sure if it was less humiliating when his friend said it.

"Well...however many shifts its been, during every single one of those one hundred and twenty-three shifts you have gotten distracted and started to think about Irina and then you get that look on your face."

"But I was not thinking about Irina. You and the Captain are correct. She is not the one for me. She is a pale shadow when compared to..." The young man's voice trailed off and he hastily swallowed but didn't finish the statement.

"Finally. You may be a genius but on somethings you should still bow to your elders and their vast experience." There were many reasons that Sulu liked the James T. Kirk. Free falling to catch him was certainly one of them, but the fact that Kirk was more then willing to ignore certain rules and regulations, particularly those pertaining alcohol on starfleet vessels, was one of his more enjoyable traits. Not only did the Captain allow the crew to indulge in real liquor he had joined Sulu several times in trying to help the wonder-boy drown his enduring love in vodka. Sulu and Kirk had become adept at trying to help Chekov understand that eighteen was much too young to commit yourself to only one woman.

"You are still wrong about the three musketeers. I assure you that it was written by a Russian and Dumas stole it. But yes about Irina, you are right."

Sulu had started a list for everything that Chekov assured him were really from mother Russia. It was always worth a few laughs, and updating during staff meetings made him look productive.

"So..."

"So?"

It was impossible to fathom how someone so smart could be so dense sometimes. "Who is she?" asked Sulu, only slightly exasperated.

After several moments without an answer Sulu glanced over at the ensign who had turned bright red and ducked his head.

"Well based on that reaction, I am guessing its someone that I know."

"...Yes"

"Are you going to ask her out?"

Sulu wasn't sure if Chekov choked on the idea or hiccuped at the wrong time, but either way his coughing fit disrupted the entire bridge. Sulu felt bad for the kid and gently pounded him on the back to help him get his breath back. The captain came over to make sure everything was okay. He and Sulu spoke about the upcoming darts competition. Sulu hadn't entered since he was coordinating the event but he was looking forward to seeing how the Captain did and to see if the doctor's threats were warranted. Bones had signed up to, in his words, "keep Jim's ego from inflating to the point of needing surgical intervention." Given that all of the sickbay orderlies had bet against McCoy, Sulu wasn't sure that the doctor would be successful in the endeavor. By the time Spock called Kirk over to discuss some duty rosters, Chekov had sunk himself into his duties and would not respond to Sulu's attempts to restart the conversation.

Sulu thought about letting the matter go. He knew that it would probably be the better choice both as a friend and as an officer. While it had never been covered in any of his academy classes he felt that it was a safe assumption that teasing your best friend about a crush while serving on the bridge was not consider conduct becoming a Starfleet officer. On the other hand, the bridge of the Enterprise wasn't quite like any other starship that Sulu knew of and the shift was still mind numbingly boring. Having made up his mind to pursue the matter, Sulu was left with the challenge of drafting a plan of attack.

Finally after some analysis Sulu settled on the most direct approach.

"Is it Nurse Chapel?"

Chekov didn't even glance up but his right hand twitched twice. After sitting next to him for one hundred and twenty-three bridge shifts and a weekly game of poker at which Chekov was able to list the statistical likelihood of any single card being dealt but lost nearly every hand because of his complete lack of guile, Sulu had become good at reading his tells. Two titches meant no.

"Janice Rand?"

Two twitches.

"That new engineer who transferred over from the Yorktown?"

Two twitches and a glance.

"Okay maybe she is a little old for you. Tonia Burrows?"

Again two twitches.

"Yeoman Atkins? She's your type."

"My type?"

"Blond. Irina, the waitress that you liked at the diner by the academy, your advance number theory professor..." Chekov ears burned when Sulu mentioned the crush on the professor. During one of their drinking sessions with the Captain and Dr. McCoy, Chekov had listed his many unrequited crushes. Sulu wasn't sure if Chekov was more embarrassed about the crush or that the Captain knew the professor intimately.

Sulu debated continuing to list female crew members. He suspected that it would easily fill the rest of the shift but it also seemed like it would have a low return for the amount of energy he would have to invest and now he was getting curious. Well there was more than one way to skin Schrödinger's cat.

"Does she work in the mess?"

"No. Would you like to check these calculations? I think that if we change our heading by-"

"You're the boy wonder. I'll take your word for it and don't think you can distract me that easily. Not the mess. How about Communications? A department of talented linguists according to the Captain." As soon has he said Communications Chekov's left foot started to tap and by the time Sulu was done speaking his entire leg was jumping up and down uncontrollably. Direct hit.

"So communications it is." Sulu was surprised. Chekov spent most of his time on the bridge working and when off shift at the gym with Sulu or occasionally playing chess with the Capitain. He took his meals with Sulu. Occasionally Kirk or Spock would join them. Sometimes McCoy would sit at their table when he had gotten too annoyed with the Captain's "disregard for basic cosmic sanitary habits", whatever those were. The only time Chekov ate with anyone else was when he and Uhura got together to talk about music in Russian...

"Holy Shit! Seriously?" One of the great things about Chekov routinely joining him for a run before Sulu had his morning cup of tea was that the young Ensign was an expert at following the pilot's leaps of logic.

"SHHHhhh! We will talk about this never again!" Except is sounded like 'Ve vill talk about this newer again' and that wasn't good enough to discourage Sulu.

"Friend, I can't fault your taste but this is even worse than Irina. You must move beyond this unrequited crush."

"But that is the best part." Sulu looked at the young navigator to make sure that he had heard him correctly, and then to be doubly sure he had heard correctly Sulu asked him to clarify.

"Really, the best part?"

Crushes weren't something Sulu had a lot of experience with. Or at least, he was unfamiliar with unrequited crushes. Theoretically he understood how it happened, but personally they had never been his style. He found them...uncomfortable and as a result avoided them. He much preferred to act on an attraction, and if action wasn't possible then he just moved on. If he were to be honest, he just denied the crush until it died, and then didn't acknowledge its death. It probably explained why he, like the Captain, had a bit of a reputation.

"Yes. When every time you see the person your heart skips a beat, and there are butterflies in your stomach and you feel a little bit more alive b/c they're near you. That's the best. I know that she has no idea I exist as anything other then an occasional Russian conversation partner and that's okay. When I look at her I feel like I will love again. Sometimes it nice to just feel your heart flutter. I know that you and the Captain keep telling me to leave my heart out of it, to think in the moment, but then its not real. No heart would be worse than a broken heart. Da?"

Sulu looked at Chekov and realized that he was truly seeing the young navigator for the first time.

"You're right," and Sulu's heart gave a little jump, he felt a few butterflies flutter in in his gut and he smiled at his friend. Sulu thought it might be time to see if crushes really were the best part.


End file.
